Heritage

Long before Parramatta Park was gazetted as a People’s Park in 1858, it played a vital role in the lives of Aboriginal people and European settlers.

The area of Parramatta was known as Burramatta by the Darug people – the area’s first inhabitants and traditional owners for more than 40,000 years. The people who lived in the area called themselves the Burramatta and used the river as a large Aboriginal Meeting Place.

The river has always been significant to the Parramatta, having also drawn European settlers who established a colonial settlement in 1788 after Governor Philip led an expedition through Darug Nation country in search of farming land.

Parramatta Park secured its World Heritage Listing in 2010, and is one of 11 Australian Convict Sites which collectively illustrate the global phenomenon of the forced migration of convicts.